Voluntary Planning Agreements

VOLUNTARY PLANNING AGREEMENTS

A Voluntary Planning Agreement (VPA) is an agreement between developers and a planning authority, such as Council or the Department of Planning and Environment.

A Planning Agreement may include provisions such as monetary contributions, infrastructure works, or the dedication of land at no cost to Council. These provisions must be applied towards a public purpose which include, but are not limited to:

Public Amenities
Transport or other infrastructure related to land, such as stormwater
Affordable Housing
Funding of recurrent expenditure relating to the provision of public amenities, affordable housing or transport or other infrastructure

Planning Agreements Policies, fees and charges

Both Council's Planning Agreements Policy and Dedication of Lands Policy can be viewed at the Public Policies and Protocols Page.

Council's Planning Agreement Template.

Developers are required to meet the full cost of preparing agreements.  See Council’s adopted Fees and Charges.

VPA Register

Voluntary Planning Agreements cannot be entered into unless public notice has been given and an explanatory note is made available for inspection for at least 28 days. Current VPAs on exhibition can be viewed via the Public Notices & Exhibition.

Council maintains a register of executed and completed Voluntary Planning Agreements. Council also Tracks the delivery of commitments under each of the active Voluntary Planning Agreements.

Executed VPAs are agreements that have been entered into and signed by CEO on behalf of Council and the Developer . The VPA is now active and payment of monetary contributions, dedication of land or provision of material public benefits are applicable according to its own conditions.

Completed VPAs are those whose obligations have been met by the developer and the Planning Agreement is considered to be concluded.

Online VPAs Map

The VPA Interactive Map displays all land subject to VPAs currently on exhibition, executed or completed. It allows zooming in and out, panning around, identifying areas, and generating reports.